Sellout
by sickoftakenpennames
Summary: Adrian's gone pro, but a new team member may stop her dead in her tracks. Soon, she starts making decisions that may lead to her ultimate downfall, and Eric starts to rethink how he got to where he is, regretting past decisions. Language, based on THUG.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Tony Hawk's Underground, or any of the Tony Hawk merchandise (including Birdhouse).**

**I know it's an old game. So what? I got the idea after running through Story Mode a few days ago. The name of my custom skater has been altered (to Adrian), but other than that, most characters are still pretty much the same.**

* * *

Eric snorted as he stabbed at the last piece of trash on the ground and angrily stuffed it into his heavy duty garbage bag. He had been stuck with this job of picking up after everyone's crap after Todd assigned him the one position left on the tour, which Eric had so stupidly babbled for, thinking he had another shot of making it on the team.

He kicked himself for not noticing the smirk that had crept onto Todd's face when he offered him the job (not unlike the one he usually wore when he was finished wiping the burger grease off his chin).

Tossing the bag against the side of the tour bus, he slumped down on the curb and pulled out a pamphlet for tour dates from his back pocket, looking to see where the next stop was.

Hmm... Tampa. The first place something had started to smell fishy with his and Adrian's friendship. Lo and behold, it was the same vert competition she had kicked his butt in.

And there was a picture of her at the top, spotlighting her as one of the breakthrough pros of the Birdhouse tour.

Crumpling up the paper and tossing it over his shoulder, Eric began rubbing his sore bicep when the door from the bus swung wide open.

Joey, one of the new amateurs that Birdhouse had picked up to sponsor after showcasing his potential at their Hoboken stop, stood shirtless on the last step before the two-and-a-half foot jump to the ground. He swayed back and forth a little bit, indicating that he had snuck another beer from the secret stash Todd kept under his bed. Not bad for a kid only a year younger than Eric himself.

"Hey," Joey slurred, burping and tossing the can over towards Eric, who was still watching to see if the kid would keep his balance.

"...Missed a spot."

Laughing, Joey grabbed onto the door and stumbled klutzily onto the ground, completely inebriated.

Eric shook his head and kicked the can out into the middle of the road.

Cheers to the next four months he would be spending on this rundown crap tour.

* * *

Adrian twiddled her brown hair as she sat on the curb, about a block away from the tour bus, reading off of the Tampa schedule. She was supposedly in line to judge the street competition, but times were still on the fence.

Chris, one of Birdhouse's speakers, sat next to her as they waited for Todd to show up and escort them back to the bus.

Glancing over Adrian's shoulder to read the paper, she poked her aquaintance to stir her attention.

"So, like, have you ever judged a competition before?" she asked, fiddling with her shark tooth necklace.

Adrian shrugged.

"Once, back in Charlotte. Not so much judging as cheering for one of the competitors and swaying the vote," she replied, folding the paper back into her front pocket.

"Oh, so_ that's_ why Todd looked so upset and tried to get you off the ramp," Chris giggled, receiving a blank stare from Adrian. To be honest, they had probably only hired this girl for media eye candy, but Adrian hung out around her occasionally, if not only out of sheer lack of something else to do.

"Hey, you two!"

Both girls looked up to see Todd walking towards the two of them, a young man about Adrian's age in tow.

"You two remember Mikey? From the Hoboken stop?"

Chris nodded and looked back at Adrian, who seemed to be in a mild state of shock. Her mouth seemed to be struggling to string together some kind of sentence.

"...No," Adrian stuttered, remembering that she had probably missed this one when she went to check out grind competition after finishing her run at the stop.

Mikey's eyes grew a little wider.

"Hey, I know you! You're headlining the tour! Adrian, right?"

She nodded silently. Chris furrowed her brow, trying to understand why Adrian was witholding eye contact.

"Sweet. Just 'cause I was thinking maybe I could show you some stuff later. If that's all right with you, I mean."

Adrian drew back, looking almost offended. She rubbed her arm nervously, receiving a raise eyebrow from Todd, but whose mind had started to wander off to his next meal.

"Well, you kids have fun. Chat, or something. I gotta go fill the tank up."

"Do you need gas money?" Chris asked, reaching for her wallet.

"No, _my_ tank," Todd replied, patting his grotesquely extended gut.

"That still leaves us out twenty bucks," Mikey retorted.

Narrowing his eyes, Todd lightly cuffed the newbie on the ear and replied, "Fine, Mr. Wise-Ass. You're buying, then."

Rolling his eyes, Mikey waved goodbye to the girls as he followed Todd back to the rest stop.

Chris looked back to her friend, seeing Adrian blushing uncharacteristically.

"What's wrong with you?" Chris probed, covering her hand with her mouth when she realized what was wrong with Adrian.

"Ooooh! You were checking out the new guy!" she cooed, receiving a light punch in the shoulder from the other girl.

"Bull," Adrian muttered.

"Yes, you were!" Chris squealed annoyingly. "Trust me, I kn-oooow! Adrian's got an eye for the amateur!"

Flipping her beach-blonde hair out of her eyes, she sighed and added, "Thank goodness."

Adrian picked up her head.

"Why?"

"Well, for a while, I thought you were a lesbian."

"......"

* * *

**A/N: Well, I just needed a start out to the story. Not the best, of course, but meh, something to lead into the main plot.**


End file.
